1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the general field of casino gaming and, more particularly, is a variation of the game of Baccarat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Baccarat is a game that is usually played in a casino, where one or more players play against a bank. In Europe, the bank is one of the players. In a typical casino in the United States, the bank is a dealer employed by the casino.
Before cards are dealt, a player makes a wager on either a player hand or a bank hand. Since the player makes the wager on either of the hands, there is an absence of a focussed adversarial relationship between the player and the dealer.
After the wager is made, two cards are dealt to form the player hand and two cards are dealt to form the bank hand. The hands are dealt from one or more standard decks of cards that are shuffled together. The rules of Baccarat provide for dealing a third card to the player hand and dealing a third card to the bank hand under certain conditions.
Whether the player hand or the bank hand is a winning hand is determined by their point values. The hand with the highest point value is the winning hand.
The point value of an exemplary hand is obtained from the sum of the point values of cards that comprise the exemplary hand. Kings, Queens and Jacks have a point value of zero. All other cards have a point value equal to their numerical face value with an ace having a point value of one.
When the sum is a single digit number, the sum is the point value of the exemplary hand. When the sum is a two digit number, the low order digit of the sum is the point value of the exemplary hand. Therefore, the highest point value of a hand is nine. A natural is a term that is used to describe a hand, comprised of two cards, that has a point value of either eight or nine.
Americans spend on the order of 1.5 billion dollars per year playing Baccarat. Accordingly, Baccarat has a large core measure of popularity. A variation of the game of Baccarat that provides the focussed adversarial relationship between the player and the dealer would have an increased popularity.